


Consensus

by StringedVictory



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Body Horror, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Mind Control, Yeerks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-03-19
Packaged: 2018-03-15 11:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3445367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StringedVictory/pseuds/StringedVictory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a universe where the Yeerks pose a threat to the Federation, Ezri's world changes twice in a very short time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Consensus

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been kicking around my head for some time, but I was spurred into writing it when [Tyleet](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Tyleet/) came up with a ST:TOS/Animorphs fusion AU.

She is familiar with the notion of another mind joining with hers. Indeed, she remembers being told as a child that someday she might be worthy of just such an honor.

But she never dreamed it would happen like this.

She loses track of the rest of her landing party for what seems a matter of moments, and suddenly she is alone, and equally suddenly a pair of crew members she has always thought of as friends is holding her down, letting something worm its way into her brain.

 _Hello, Ezri_ , it says. _You have a wonderful mind. So fresh and agile and adaptable. So accomplished, yet so young._ Beneath the horror, and the shock, and the panic, a tiny part of her wishes her superior officers gave such glowing reports.

At first she imagines she’ll be found out when her counseling sessions with shipmates go awry. Quickly, she learns she is mistaken.

 _Of course I make a good counselor_ , the Yeerk tells her matter-of-factly. _I know the inner workings of many species’ minds. Exactly as a Federation ship’s counselor should._

 _Could you at least try not to be better than me?_ she replies, only half joking.

_Not possible, I’m afraid._

 

With her position as counselor, it’s easy enough to invent an excuse for signing out a runabout every few days. “Psychological testing.” “Experimentation on fatigue in combat pilots.” Even “client confidentiality,” as her Yeerk hauls some poor hapless Controller-ensign to the nearest remote Kandrona station.

 _You’re awfully resilient_ , the interloper tells her every so often.

 _Yeah, well, I’m a counselor_ , is all she can manage, from the professionally-chipper part of her brain. _In my line of work, you really have to be_.

They are both caught off guard when the alarm sounds in sickbay. A doctor she barely recognizes grabs her by the arm and thrusts a hospital johnny into hands only the Yeerk can keep from trembling.

"It… it really is a life-or-death situation for the symbiont," the doctor says nervously. "I mean, I’m sorry. I don’t need to tell you that. I realize we aren’t giving you much time, but-"

"No," she hears in her own voice. "I understand. It’s my duty as a Trill to do this."

She knows why the Yeerk is acquiescing; it can’t resist the opportunity of eight lifetimes of knowledge. Frankly, she admits to herself, the idea appeals to her for the same reasons, although she would give it more than a split second’s thought if left to her own devices. But now, as she watches her own fingers tie the johnny over her shivering body, she can only dread what awaits her: being left adrift in her body, the first and easiest casualty of a battle for her own mind.

"All right, Ensign Tigan," comes a voice from the operating theatre. "Come in, please."

The Yeerk succumbs to the sedative a split second before she does, and for a moment she is freer than she imagined she could be, and then everything fades out.

 

"It went very well, Ezri," says the surgeon, beaming. "You’ll have to take it easy for a few days, but the Dax symbiont is doing much better than expected, and so are you. Er, both of you. I mean-"

She hears herself laugh. “I understand. Thank you, Doctor.” Yet the sensation of speech doesn’t come to her from the outside in this time. Now a multitude of minds wells up inside her, all grateful and frightened and determined at once.

 _It’s a little crowded in here_ , says one of them, the most recent. The memories from that mind are fresh and still painful when Ezri recalls the most recent of what she realizes are many deaths.

 _I control this body_ , states the Yeerk flatly. _The Trill system of symbiosis is of much interest to us. We have noted the productive relationship between the Trill symbionts and their hosts. Perhaps one day we may be able to emulate it._  
  
_And until then, what?_ says another mind-voice, gruff yet good-natured. _You’re just going to crash around the galaxy, stealing bodies wherever you can get them?_  
  
_Our host bodies should be grateful for the opportunity,_ the Yeerk retorts.

 _No_ , says a third Trill. Trying desperately to keep them straight, Ezri manages to recognize this one as Emony. _I remember when the news came, when your campaign of destruction first took down a Federation vessel. They said the survivors were weeping. Wounded, discarded hosts were begging to be put out of their misery._

 _We have our share of troubles_ , says Audrid. The others concur. _I spent long enough on the Symbiosis Commission to know that much. But we treat our hosts with the utmost respect._

 _How very generous of you,_ the Yeerk replies, sending an unpleasant shiver down Ezri's spine with its contempt. _I'm sure they are very grateful._

 _We_ are _our hosts,_ says Tobin simply.

 _Before I was Joined_ , another chimes in - Torias, she thinks- _I was frightened and uncertain. But I was also proud, and honored, and all the other things you feel when you’re young and standing on the threshold of the most important and most permanent choice you will ever make._

 _And you took that choice away from Ezri_ , says the oldest of the voices, with all the gravity of a funeral oration.

 _You took it twice over_ , adds Emony. _Once when you took her brain, and another when you made her become Joined._

 _Now you've left it to us to beg her forgiveness,_ says Torias, and Ezri can feel his anger and remorse. She tries to tell them that she forgives them, even though she feels the strange pain of Joining, even though that same pain is relief from the terror she felt before. _  
_

 _You will pay_ , snaps another voice, directed at the interloper. It’s a brash, young voice: Joran, who was Joran Dax only briefly and left the symbiont forever changed.

 _You don’t know who we are_ , says the Yeerk.

 _Cowards_ , says Joran simply.

Ezri hardly bothers to string together her thoughts; the other Trill can read them, can know them almost before she does. She is frightened, of course, but also grateful, and both are momentary whims compared to the strange, delicious new feeling: the utter opposite of loneliness, a sense of belonging unlike anything she has ever thought possible.

 _We’ll take care of you_ , says Lela, the oldest host.

 _We have to_ , says Tobin. _You’re part of us now_.

 _How?_ Ezri manages to say through the thick fog of minds.

 _It’s easy_ , explains Curzon, the gruff one. _We’ll take a little trip. If I know him, our old friend Ben could use our help right about now. And that should eat up seventy-two hours._

__But how can we-_ _

_If I understand Yeerk physiology correctly_ , says Jadzia, _our uninvited guest controls only your brain. As the connections between your body and the symbiont grow stronger, we’ll be able to fight the control until we can override it completely. And it doesn’t fully know our thoughts either._

Ezri feels like weeping, though the Yeerk holds the tears at bay. _Thank you_ , she says, not caring which of the newcomers hears.

She realizes that her hand is already poised over the spot on her abdomen where the symbiont now sits. Concentrating on her knees as hard as she could, she swings her legs over the side of the bed. The Yeerk tries to wrest control of her limbs from her, but she manages to push the button labeled “NURSE.”

"Water," she rasps, slowly and too loudly, when the nurse rounds the corner. He gives her a quizzical look, steps out for a moment, and returns with a cup.

 _Why are you trying this_? says the Yeerk, jerking her arm so that the first mouthful spills down her front.

 _Because we can win_ , she replies, and all the voices of Dax cheer their approval inside her.

On the next sip, she barely spills a drop.


End file.
